Chapter 2154 — Champion Again

When Han Tianba and Han Xiaohu first saw the Wind-Thunder Violet Lightning Beast come running toward Wei Zhao, their hearts tightened—but never in their wildest imaginings had they expected the beast to grovel and fawn over Wei Zhao like that.

"Wei Zhao... so it was your doing all along!" Wo the sect master was quickest to react; something seemed to click in his mind, and he leapt up, jabbing a finger at Wei Zhao and roaring, "What did you do to our Qianshan Sect's spirit beast?"

"Me? Do what?" Wei Zhao shrugged. "There's no rule in this spirit beast contest saying you can't pull a few strings, is there?"

"That..." Wo the sect master was momentarily struck dumb. Indeed, there was no such rule! After all, when the rules had been drawn up, he had never once imagined that anyone could possibly tamper with the Wind-Thunder Violet Lightning Beast. That beast was an ancient spirit beast—who would dare meddle with it? They would have to be tired of living.

And yet, tamper with it Wei Zhao had—thoroughly, at that. Not only was he himself unharmed, but he had even made the beast kill Qianshan Sect's disciple Wo Jincha!

"Elder Zhao, the results are out now. You can announce them, can't you?" Wei Zhao said coolly. Truth be told, even he had not expected to subdue an ancient spirit beast quite so easily. Still, it was all to the good—it meant he had gained another trump card. The Wind-Thunder Violet Lightning Beast looked formidable enough; he wondered whether it could hold its own against a heaven-rank expert.

"Ahem, that goes without saying..." Elder Zhao found the whole affair uncanny, and he was most reluctant to let Wei Zhao simply walk off with a spirit beast for nothing, but he announced nonetheless: "In the final extra round, the champion is the Hidden Han Family, second place goes to the Fire Wolf Gang, and third to the Hidden Pi Family. Will these three come forward to claim their stakes!"

"Hold on, Wei Zhao, you owe us an explanation. Just what did you do to the spirit beast?" How could Wo the sect master let it rest there? He reached out an arm, blocking Wei Zhao's path. "You won by trickery and swindled away my spirit beast..."

"Are you sick or something? Can't stand losing?" Wei Zhao glanced at Wo the sect master and said darkly, "Elder Zhao, at the Hidden World Family Summit, what is the penalty when someone privately makes trouble?"

"That... we will report it faithfully to the ancient sects..." Elder Zhao faltered. Reluctant as he was, he had no choice but to force the words out. Who knew whether the powers at the ancient level might not be watching from nearby? Experts of peak late heaven-rank strength could not be detected by the likes of them, so Elder Zhao could not openly utter anything that violated principle.

"Elder Zhao, this is not making trouble!" Wo the sect master said, cupping his hands. "Wei Zhao swindled away my spirit beast. How is that to be settled? If Wei Zhao hadn't first stolen what belonged to our Qianshan Sect, would I be troubling him?"

"Stolen your belongings?" Wei Zhao laughed. "Sect Master Wo, have you forgotten what you said at the time? You said that once the spirit beast was contributed, whether it lived or died, no matter what went wrong, it would have nothing to do with you. Those were your own words, weren't they? And it wasn't as though I took the spirit beast off your hands for nothing—didn't I give you a spirit medicine fruit?"

"You!" Wei Zhao's words left Wo the sect master speechless. Indeed, to trick a treasure out of the Hidden Han Family's hands, he had said those very words—but at the time he had said them offhandedly, as a joke. It had never occurred to him that the Wind-Thunder Violet Lightning Beast might actually be lured away by Wei Zhao.

"Elder Zhao, everyone present heard those words, didn't they? As the host of the Hidden World Family Summit, when someone makes such an unreasonable scene, shouldn't you take some measures?" Wei Zhao gave a cold laugh, then ignored Wo the sect master altogether and turned to Elder Zhao.

"That... naturally. Sect Master Wo, you did indeed say those words back then—the spirit beast was contributed by you, and whatever went wrong, it had nothing to do with you!" Elder Zhao said. "Otherwise, on what grounds would the Hidden Han Family have handed over their treasure to you?"

Elder Zhao was nursing his own grudge against Wo the sect master. You talked such a fine game, he thought—claimed you would do away with Wei Zhao. And what came of it? Not only did you fail to kill Wei Zhao, you let him take yet another championship. Where does that leave the face of me, the host?

This whole Hidden World Family Summit had turned into a pageant staged for Wei Zhao alone, letting him hog every spotlight! As for who got the spirit beast, Elder Zhao could not have cared less—the beast was not his to begin with, so he had lost nothing.

"That... I..." Wo the sect master wished he could tear out his own tongue. Why had he been so loose-lipped back then, why say such a thing? Now look at the mess—all for the sake of scheming after a trinket of the Hidden Han Family's, he had thrown his own sect's spirit beast into the bargain. A dead loss if ever there was one!

"Enough. I'm going to collect my prize. If you don't want to die, get out of my way!" Wei Zhao glared at Wo the sect master. The man was merely a peak mid earth-rank expert—Wei Zhao did not take him seriously at all. Those heaven-rank elders he did not dare offend too brazenly, but for the likes of Wo the sect master, he cared not a whit.

Seeing that Wei Zhao would not be swayed by either soft or hard tactics, Wo the sect master had no recourse but to pin his hopes on the Wind-Thunder Violet Lightning Beast. He walked cautiously over and tried to communicate with it: "You..."

But before Wo the sect master could finish, the Wind-Thunder Violet Lightning Beast turned its backside to him, wheeled around, and went off with Wei Zhao to collect the prize!

"..." Wo the sect master was furious and resentful, yet utterly helpless. He shook his head, gathered up his disciple's corpse, and withdrew for the time being to think of a plan. That Wei Zhao should carry off the Wind-Thunder Violet Lightning Beast like this—he would not swallow it, so he would have to devise some scheme.

Besides, the lives of two of his disciples had been forfeited to Wei Zhao's hands—how could he possibly let the matter rest?

Wei Zhao collected his own stakes and glanced at those of the Hidden Pi Family and the Fire Wolf Gang. What the Hidden Pi Family had put up was, surprisingly, two more vials of body-tempering medicinal liquid, while the Fire Wolf Gang's was that inexplicable 01 reagent. So Wei Zhao casually took out four items and traded for them.

Elder Pi was absent; the one in charge of the Pi Family was Pi Zhifeng. He had no stomach for haggling with Wei Zhao either—he took what Wei Zhao gave him and hurried away, anxious about his younger brother's safety and unsure whether he could be cured.

An Mingyue, for his part, showed neither joy nor sorrow, his face blank. He traded with Wei Zhao readily enough, then walked off to one side without another word, as though the fate of that Fire Wolf Gang disciple concerned him not in the slightest.